Hard or semi hard cheeses are made by a process which removes moisture. Milk is curdled and, when the curdled milk is cut into cubes, the whey separates from the curds. The curds are then pressed into a block and aged. Details of the process vary depending on the type of cheese being made.

I am not very familiar with Greek yogurt, so I don't know if whey separates sufficiently. Some whey separates from regular yogurt when it is cut, but I believe not enough to form the firm curd needed to make a semi hard cheese.

How do you make Greek yogurt?

Jim

The whey separates well enough....but I am not sure the culture will do what it should do to make cheese.
Milk can be curdled by heating or by adding rennet.
I think....but sure don't know! that the yogurt culture precludes other bacteria which make a cheese age well.
Tell you what! Try it....then we'll know!...drain it well, form into a ball and cover it with a strong brine....don't KNOW how strong....but maybe 1/2 cup of pickling salt to 2 cups of water. The brine will prevent mold and draw out extra water....and make it taste good. Keep it in the refrigerator to age....
Report back in about 3 weeks.
Linda C

It sounds counter intuitive. Wouldn't brining add water back into the cheese or at that point, does it no longer soak up any water/brine?

puzzlefan, I've only taken one single cheesemaking class, and that was in making soft fresh cheese, ricotta and mozzarella. However, I don't believe you can age the yogurt into a traditional cheese, I think it's going to mold before it "ages", not because it can't be done but because the aging has to be done at specific temperatures and humidities and you don't have a traditional "curd".

I've wondered if a wine refrigerator or something similar would have sufficient humidity and temperature controls to successfully age cheese, but I haven't tried it. I think to make a traditional cheese you would also have to employ the use of a cheese press of sorts, because you aren't starting with the traditional curds, which allow you to drain off more of the whey. In addition, yogurt is heated to a higher temperature, which allows the whey to be incorporated into the yogurt, but destroys the enzymes used for aging.

I do have the Rikki Carroll cheese making book, and I'll check it tonight if you like, see how they make softer cheeses but the only yogurt based cheese I've ever heard of or encountered involves draining the yogurt in cheesecloth, pressing the yogurt if you wish to remove more moisture. Yogurt cheese made this way will keep about a month or so, refrigerated, but won't actually "age" because of the destruction of the enzymes as mentioned above.

Annie

Nope......the concentration of salt in the water is greater than the electrolites in the "cheese"....so it draws water out.
Swiss cheese is soaked in a saturated brine and Feta is aged while submerged in brine.
Alternatively you could roll the cheese in Kosher salt and leave it open in the refrigerator to age. Salt adds flavor and draws out water.
Linda C

I've made hard cheese a few times with poor to mediocre results. Linda is correct in saying salt or brine will draw out moisture. However, I think it is expecting too much to think it will draw out enough moisture from soft curds like yogurt to make a hard, or even semi-hard, cheese. In my experience yogurt doesn't give up the large amount of whey that milk which has been curdled with renin does.

It's interesting to speculate about possible ways of making cheese but, in practice, it is a rather exacting process. I think you would be more successful improvising a cake recipe than a cheese making method.

Jim

I know nothing at all about cheese making, so I can't really answer your question, but why not try draining the yogurt a bit more and see what happens? Maybe put a weight of some kind on top to speed the process. If you try it with just a little yogurt, it could be an interesting experiment.

This also begs the question..."What is cheese"?

LindaC, lots of things are "cheese", but the OP specifically said they were thinking of a semi-hard aged cheese, not a fresh cheese. I don't think it can be done with yogurt as a starter.

Annie

Puzzlefan, I make a few soft cheeses. Neufchatel, mascarpone and I do drain yogurt to make a yogurt cheese. Below is my favorite cheese making site. Take a look around and see if there is something that interests you on there. They do tell you how to make regular cheeses, but that is more than I've cared to do so far. Smiles.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dr. Frankhauser's cheese site

The experiment is on. I don't know what I'll end up with but what good are kitchens if you can't try anything once. I used up the last of my greek yogurt so now have to start a new batch. For the person asking how you make greek yogurt, all you need is a quality yogurt. Some store brands don't do well. I keep a culture alive batch to batch of yogurt as I make my own. When the yogurt is set to what I want, I line a sieve with cheesecloth or thin terry cloth, pour in the yogurt, cover it and forget for 4 to 6 hours. No need to refrigerate. The whey drains and you are left with a soft yogurt cheese. Season to taste.

YES! I do this all the time with Mesophilic yogurts, Viili or filmjolk, though. Room temperature yogurts can handle standing on the counter much longer, so you may need to play with the salt in you case. Not sure? If you use an incubator or a yogurt maker, you do not have a meso yogurt.

First off, by making greek style yogurt, you saved yourself a ton of time.
If your culture sets at room temp, perfect! If not, don't fret.
You won't need an incubator and you do not need to cook and babysit. No brine either, just patience.

To Do:
add animal rennet and a little salt to your strained yogurt
stir
strain it some more in a t-shirt for about a day
pack into a salted container and put in the fridge
wait about 3 months to a few years. My oldest so far is 3 years and trust me, it is not a slicing cheese--more like an industrial coffee grinder! ha.
Eat it up

If you see mold at any point, it is fine. Pour off more liquid and add a little more salt in the container. The mold in my house that settles in my viili pot is a grayish color and adds a stronger flavor. It gives me two cheese flavors from the same yogurt.

Mold is pretty nice (FREE) stuff when it lands in cheese. Personally, I'd die before I buy cheese molds. It is one more beautiful thing that makes home home, and your cheese unlike any other city's cheese. You breathe it in everyday, so it is already a small part of you. Take a deep breath, and make some cheese. (-;

when the milk is turned into curds by adding rennet or vinegar and heatâ¦the proteins in the milk coagulate, or come together, they change shape much in the way that gluten in kneaded bread forms strings of gluten proteins. when you make yoghurt the milk and proteins are eaten by small bacteria who emit acids and give it a tangy taste they also prevent the milk from going sourâ¦sour is alkaline, so the acidity that the yoghurt brings helps the milk stay edible. yoghurt will not turn into hard cheese. you can make a soft cheese by removing some of the water by draining it, but brine will not do this as the yoghurt is many small bacteria, they will just die and float away into the salty water. the curds can be drained of water with salt because they are like a matrix of connected prtiens and will not float away in the salty water. but stick closer together as the water in the matrix is attracted to the salt. you can however use yoghurt to acidify milk to make cheese. but you will need to add rennet and follow a recipe. hope this helps.